Cape Town fines drivers caught on camera without seatbelts
You could receive a R500 fine for driving without your seatbelt and these cameras in Cape Town are doing all the work.
Do you always wear your seatbelt while driving? If you answered no, it’s time to start making it a habit.
A recent report by News24 revealed that drivers across Cape Town are being monitored by surveillance cameras, which are used to enforce these often forgotten seatbelt laws.
However, some don’t believe that the system is entirely fair.
According to the report, Amaan Sayed, a motorist in the Mother City, was caught off guard after learning he had been fined R500 for allegedly not wearing his seatbelt.
The alleged incident reportedly occurred in January, but he only learnt about the fine in March. This was after Sayed logged into the City’s online fine system to pay a different fine.
According to Sayed, this fine looked a bit different. Unlike others, which showed several images of evidence, including number plates, the seatbelt fine only showed an image of his car’s number plate.
“I was shocked. I had no idea about this fine, and there was no image proving I wasn’t buckled up. They claimed there was a picture showing the passengers, but it wasn’t attached to the fine. How can that be fair?” he told News24.
Sayed took his concerns to the city’s traffic call centre, where an official acknowledged that while an image of the vehicle occupants allegedly did exist, it was not clear whether or not seatbelts were worn. In addition, the image was not made available for evaluation.
Ultimately, the City of Cape Town rescinded the fine.
The City Traffic Services spokesperson, Maxine Bezuidenhout, acknowledged the use of cameras to clamp down on these seatbelt violations.
She further explained that the National Directorate for Public Prosecutions (NDPP) had approved the system.
In addition, an external service provider handles the distribution of fines.
According to Bezuidenhout: “The fine for failing to wear a seatbelt, whether driver or passenger, is R500. If a child is not strapped in, that penalty jumps to R1,000.”
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